About the Prize
Find out more about the Michael Ramsey Prize, the book award for contemporary theological writing.
The Michael Ramsey Prize was inaugurated in 2005 in recognition of the central role that theological writing plays in the discipleship and flourishing of God’s church.
It was relaunched in 2023, in partnership with the McDonald Agape Foundation.
The winner of the Michael Ramsey Prize in 2023, Frederick Christian Bauerschmidt, received a £15,000 award at a ceremony in December 2023, and runners up Amy Orr-Ewing and Chine McDonald each received £5,000.
Through generating publicity and stimulating conversation, this prize seeks to promote to a wider audience some of the best theological writing of our times.
Resources which articulate our faith are of immense value to Christians, and we want to honour and celebrate the work of their authors as well as their potential to help the church grow in prayer, witness, and the ministry of reconciliation in which all God’s people are called to share.
“Every Christian is called to be part of God’s vision for a praying, witnessing and reconciling global Church. I pray that the Michael Ramsey Prize continues to play its part in highlighting resources that will help us do just that.”
The Archbishop of Canterbury, Justin Welby
The Michael Ramsey Prize, was set up to encourage the most promising contemporary theological writing and to identify it for a wider Christian readership.
The prize is named after the 100th Archbishop of Canterbury, Michael Ramsey, a prolific writer himself; and was inaugurated by Rowan Williams in 2005.
“As ever, I am grateful to Archbishop Rowan Williams for establishing this prize, which is a gift to the Church. I also remain deeply conscious of walking in the footsteps of another much-esteemed predecessor, Archbishop Michael Ramsey, whose writing is a constant inspiration to me. It is fitting that Archbishop Ramsey’s passion for enquiry into the nature of God in Christ, and the profound question of how we respond to His love, is celebrated by this prize.”
The Archbishop of Canterbury, Justin Welby
Nominations for the 2023 Michael Ramsey Prize are now closed.
A panel of men and women, with a passion for reading and theology were selected to judge the shortlisted books, alongside Justin Welby, the Archbishop of Canterbury who presides over the prize.
Read more about our 2023 judging panel here.
The judges were tasked with judging each shortlisted book against the key criteria for the Prize: to celebrate the most promising contemporary theological writing, and upon the degree to which each book deepens their faith, makes them think, inspires them to action, and is an enjoyable read.
The winning book, The Love that is God: An Invitation to the Christian Faith by Frederick Christian Bauerschmidt was announced at a prize-giving event on Thursday 14th December 2023.
Dr Michael Ramsey was Archbishop of Canterbury from 1961-1974, and was a renowned author of theological works.
He wrote many books, his best known is probably The Christian Priest Today, written in 1972, which is still in print. Ramsey also often spoke out on contemporary issues such as apartheid, the death penalty and immigration.
In particular, the prize celebrates Dr Michael Ramsey’s commitment to increasing the breadth of theological understanding among the Christian, and non-Christian, population at large.
As such, the prize aims to promote theological writing to a wider popular audience, whilst encouraging the intellectual pursuit of theology and writers to explore ideas which encourage and inspire the Church worldwide.
“We’re looking for a work that does in some sense advance theology…something that will, directly or indirectly, nourish the Church, make people in the Church feel it’s worth belonging, it’s worth exploring, it’s worth communicating.”
Dr Rowan Williams, speaking in 2007 about the Michael Ramsey Prize
Past winners include Mark Oakley, John Swinton, Luke Bretherton, David Bentley Hart, Richard Bauckham, Timothy Radcliffe and N T Wright.
The prize has previously been administered by SPCK in partnership with the Lambeth Trust, and in 2023 is partnered by the McDonald Agape Foundation.
We are very grateful to our partner, the McDonald Agape Foundation.
The McDonald Agape Foundation goal is Encouraging Distinguished Scholars for Christ, seeking to foster the highest levels of scholarship and develop leaders who model spiritual knowledge and faith.